The Gun is Mightier than the Sword
by Quanmunist
Summary: My first pic, rate, review, pointers please
1. Default Chapter

Day.  
  
A clearing in the Germanian forests.  
  
Zhang Huolong goes through his ax drills. Sweating like a horse he draws his saber at fixes it to the matchlock musket that houses an axblade at the ass. Now it becomes a combination Guandao and battle-ax and Huolong starts practicing staff techniques. He suddenly stops as he hears the sound of someone clapping. Taking off the saber he sheaths it and points the gun in the direction of the sound. "Who goes there?" He calls out.  
  
A woman clad in dark purple leather with platinum hair and wielding a sword walks out from some bushes. "You are the mercenary Zhang Huolong yes?"  
  
Huolong checks his aim. "And if I am?"  
  
Ivy smiles. "I want you to get rid of some of my competitors. 3000 for the job-how about it?"  
  
Huolong points the gun at her chest, which wasn't very hard. Ivy calmly says, "Half up front, half when you finish the job. Agreed?"  
  
Huolong nods. "All right then. Now where do you have the money?"  
  
Seung Mina, Sophitia Alexandra and her sister Cassandra trudge through a Germanian forest. Sophitia stops and feels a chill, as if something evil was in the air. They make tracks towards a cave and are surprised when a Chinese man holding a matchlock approaches them. Sophitia feels traces Soul Edge coming from the man. "Who are you?" Mina asks, drawing her weapon.  
  
"Whoa, hold your horses. You searching for that sword, what's it called, Soul Sipher? Soul Edge? That's it, Soul Edge. By the way, my name is Zhang Huolong."  
  
Sophitia tightens her grip on her gladius. "Why do you search for the blade?"  
  
Huolong smiles. "I'm a merc. Some Arab dude paid me, so here I am, looking for the damn thing."  
  
Sophitia draws her blade. "I feel something in that cave. Let's go."  
"These caverns are extensive. You could easily lose your way in here." Huolong remarks. He takes out a bit of charcoal and scrapes it along a wall. They approach a fork. Huolong pauses, then goes to the left entrance. They walk for a while longer, then Sophitia suddenly feels the pommel of a sword nail her in the head. She hits the deck.  
  
"What the f-" The others turn around. Mina is about to lunge at Ivy, sword in hand, when a well-placed whack from the stock of Huolong's gun knocks her out cold. This leaves only Cassandra. Huolong turns towards Ivy. "She's yours."  
  
"Getting soft?"  
  
"She's a f*cking kid. Remember my policy. I don't work with mutants, gods, semi-divine beings, or children."  
  
"Very well." Ivy suddenly lunges towards Cassandra. The Greek woman puts up a good fight, but Ivy's technique proves stronger. "We'll take them into the dungeon. You can have them for the night."  
  
One wonders how Ivy could sleep, what with all the screams coming from the cave that night.  
  
The next day Huolong approaches Ivy. "You got my other half?" Ivy points to a door. Huolong walks up to it. He suddenly sidesteps and, reaching out with his gun, hooks the door handle and pulls it open. A hail of arrows comes flying out. Huolong slowly does a left face towards Ivy.  
  
"What is the meaning of this?"  
  
Ivy smiles. "Defense mechanism. You know, in case someone breaks into it." Huolong humphs and is about to step in when suddenly he stops. He takes a short iron hooked stick from his cloak. After a few twists the stick lengthens. Huolong gropes around. The stick latches on to a small box, which Huolong proceeds to pick up. He opens it to find- nothing. Huolong looks at Ivy with an annoyed expression. He draws his sword and slices the box in half. "Try any sleight of hand with my money and see what happens." Huolong ventures out of the cave.  
  
Ivy silently draws her sword and whips it at Huolong's back. She is surprised when it makes a loud clanging noise. Huolong calmly does an about face.  
  
"When you're a merc, well into your 10th year in the profession, you pretty much have an idea of all the dirty tricks someone can pull on you. At the 15th year you start adding your own." He takes off his cloak. A shield is strapped to his back like a turtle shell. Huolong clubs his rifle. "Bring it on, bitch."  
  
Ivy withdraws her sword. Whips are not very well suited for close- quarters, especially in a cave. Huolong bellows a war cry and charges, bringing his clubbed rifle down like an avalanche. He hits the deck as Ivy sidesteps and jumps over a sweep kick, then brings the gun horizontally. Ivy blocks several more strikes, then kicks Huolong in the face. Huolong reels back, then starts running like a mofo around the caverns. He finds a hole and dumps out all the stuff loaded in his musket. Taking out a small piece of paper he pours powder in it, then rolls it up like a taco and bites off the end. Then he takes out the ramrod and pushes it down. Huolong next takes out an iron ball and crushes it with the butt plate of his gun. Scooping up the pieces he empties them down his gun, then cocks the weapon. He suddenly rises up and fires. Ivy manages to block some of the buckshot but other fragments hit her, and the little fragments of metal dig into her skin.  
  
"Buckshot. Gotta love that." Huolong kicks Ivy, knocking her over. He then runs into the dungeon and frees Mina, Sophitia, and Cassandra.  
  
"Here are your weapons. Little bitch tried to kill me. Now run."  
Several weeks have passed. Huolong is wandering in the Ottoman Empire, looking for work. He suddenly meets an old acquaintance.  
  
"Yu."  
  
"Yes, me."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
Yu smiles. He whips out a pike. "Let's go."  
  
Huolong fixes his saber to his gun. He suddenly gets a bad feeling in his gut and starts off with a sidekick, just as a huge crossbow bolt whizzes where his head used to be.  
  
"Bastard." Huolong slashes at Yu's legs. Yu jumps over the strike and attacks down. Huolong blocks with his gun and Yu narrowly avoids a kick in the balls.  
  
"You're getting slow." Huolong takes a whack to the side. Grabbing the pike pole Huolong leaps at the younger man and punches him in the face.  
  
A volley of crossbow bolts suddenly comes at Huolong. The merc was unable to dodge all of them. Deciding that retreat is the better part of valor, Huolong runs. Yu throws his pike, which bounces off the shield on Huolong's back. He is about to give chase when Huolong fires. Yu barely manages to dodge the blast and sees Huolong steal his horse and make off.  
  
"Damn!"  
  
Night.  
  
A man stumbles into a village. Several crossbow bolts are lodged in his leg. He leans on a door to help support his weight, and then knocks. A woman answers. A blonde woman, carrying a gladius and a small round shield.  
  
"You!"  
  
Huolong looks up to see the form of Cassandra Alexandra. "Is it true what they say about Greek hospitality?" Huolong asks.  
  
"Yes it is. Come in. What happened?" Cassandra points at the crossbow bolts lodged in Huolong's leg. 


	2. Chapter 2

Zhang Huolong tells his story. "I once owned a merc outfit. We started from 25 and grew into a brigade, 2500 strong. 25 companies, each led by a member of our original band of brothers. Then came the day the Spanish hired us to take part in their war against the Brits. We were decimated, but got our numbers up through recruiting. However my own sworn brother turned against me, and somehow got most of the new recruits to do so as well. Basically what happened next was a huge battle. He left with 1000 men and much of our money, while we had 200 plus 20 of the old 24. I ran into him today. So would you mind if I stayed here for a while, until my wounds get better?"  
  
Cassandra narrows her eyes. "If not for the law of hospitality, I would take revenge for your backstabbing us in that cave. But yes, you can stay."  
  
Meanwhile in the Ming Court, the Emperor held a meeting with his advisors. "The first three teams we sent to recover the Hero's Sword have all failed. The Wo Kou have grown bolder with each raid. They have already invaded Korea. How long until they feel bold enough to make a thrust at the Great Ming? I suggest we send a fourth team." One advisor argues.  
  
"Are you suggesting our own soldiers aren't good enough to stand up to these foreigners, these barbarians? Emperor, I will lead our army to assist our Korean comrades." Argues another. This debate goes on for quite a while, until the Emperor finally makes up his mind.  
  
"We will send another team if any of you can think of anyone qualified to make the journey. What about those new mercenaries? Send for them."  
  
A few minutes later they arrived. The Emperor looked them over. "State your names."  
  
A tall man with a red face and a flowing beard kneeled. "My name is Guan Tianlong, descendant of the great Guan Yunchang of the Three Kingdoms."  
  
A shorter man wearing a wolf skin did the same thing. "Lei Sanlang, descended from the same school as Qin Ming of Liangshan Po."  
  
"Xue Chongtian, formerly of the Kunlun clan."  
"Sagacious Lu, formerly of the Shaolin Temple, but kicked out due to my love of meat and wine."  
"Little Pilgrim Wu Song, from the same school of fighting."  
"Gongsun Shen of Wudang Mountain."  
"Xiong Ba."  
"Lin Bao"  
"Sun Gang, descendent of Sun Ce of the Three Kingdoms."  
"Yula and Yuri, sworn brothers of the White Broadsword Clan."  
  
Guan Tianlong spoke up. "There was another one, from the Philippines, Pilcak Balmung, except he was hired by the Koreans to help fight the Wo Kou."  
  
The Emperor nodded. After a demonstration of their abilities he agreed to send them to seek the Hero's Sword.  
  
Seung Mina searched high and low. "Goddamnit Yunsung, where the hell are you?" Walking around in the streets of Prussia she suddenly feels an evil prescence. Looking around she spies the form of Nightmare. "Oh shit."  
  
It was a quiet day in the small Greek town. Word traveled quickly in the tiny place, and pretty soon everyone knew that there was a merc present in the Alexandra residence. This attracted attention from the Sultan, who feared this might incite the Greeks to rebel against Ottoman rule. He ordered the Janissaries stationed in the town to arrest Huolong.  
  
The corruption of the Ottoman Empire was such that even the elite Janissaries were not exempt. As they marched into the town they took as they pleased and looted homes. Finally Huolong comes out. "Looking for me?" He taunted as he stood there in front of the biggest one. The Jan punches Huolong, who suddenly parries it and slaps the Turk upside the head. This happens several more times, until the Janissary finally gets the idea to block the next slap. No use, however, when Huolong kicks him in the balls, then backhands him, knocking the soldier over. He crawls into a crowd of his fellows.  
  
The Janissaries' commander steps forward and sees Huolong impudently drinking a cup of wine, then spitting it out at him. The Turk tries a right punch, which was caught by Huolong and used to pull his face into a palm strike. Huolong then grabs the commander's collar, knees him, and tosses him aside. He then pours himself another cup of wine and gets into the drunken stance. "Who's next?"  
  
Three Jans rush Huolong, who falls to the ground, does a really cool looking spin kick that trips the first two and sweep kicks the third. He rolls away from a kick and, grabbing a bench, trips another Jan. After kicking some more ass with the bench he tosses it aside and scorpion kicks a Janissary sneaking up behind him. "You all suck. This is getting boring."  
  
Huolong takes this fight to the street. Picking up a broomstick he was like a whirlwind, hitting everywhere at once. When the first Janissary was knocked down, people started gathering. After the third eveyone was cheering at the sight of their Imperialist masters getting beaten by a foreigner. Finally there was only one Janissary left. He runs like a mofo. Huolong looks at the crowd. "Ah, what the hell." He runs after the Turk. Kicking off a wall, Huolong does an ax kick in midair and brings it crashing down on the unfortunate Turk. "Tell your masters that Zhang Huolong did this." Pulling out a knife he carves his last name on the Jan's face. "Run." 


End file.
